China Tunnel Crossing Mountains and Sea (Big Data Observation)
Core reading
Recently, nine China projects were successfully selected as "50 tunnel projects with global influence in the past 50 years", which attracted attention.
A series of tunnels that drill mountains, cross rivers and cross seas have helped to form a railway network of 159,000 kilometers, a high-speed rail network of 45,000 kilometers, a highway network of 5.441 million kilometers and a high-speed network of 184,000 kilometers, connecting the flowing China, witnessing economic development and demonstrating scientific and technological strength.
The world’s longest highway spiral tunnel, the world’s highest high-speed rail tunnel, and the world’s largest single-pipe double-layer tunnel … Today, China has built more than 50,000 kilometers of railway tunnels and highway tunnels, opening up the "throat" and forming the world’s largest high-speed railway network and expressway network.
Recently, at the 2024 World Tunnel Congress held in Shenzhen, the International Tunnels and Underground Space Association (hereinafter referred to as "ITA") released "50 tunnel projects with global influence in the past 50 years", and 9 China projects were successfully selected, with the largest number and the highest proportion.
Many tunnel projects broke the world record.
From old to new, witness the technological changes of China tunnel.
Chengdu-kunming railway Chamarat Da Tunnel, Beijing-Guangzhou Railway Heng-Guang Double Track Dayaoshan Tunnel, Xikang Railway Qinling Tunnel, Qinghai-Tibet Railway Xinguanjiao Tunnel, Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Immersed Tunnel, Shenzhen Metro Line 14, Shenzhen-China Channel Cross-Harbour Tunnel, Qingdao Jiaozhou Bay Second Cross-Harbour Highway Tunnel … The selected China Project has witnessed the development and changes of China tunnel technology in recent decades.
Chamarat Da Tunnel, a controlled project in chengdu-kunming railway, is located at an altitude of more than 2,200 meters, which has been recognized as a "forbidden zone" by foreign geologists, and underground rivers, faults and mudslides can be seen everywhere.
In March, 1959, the Chamarat Dada Tunnel was started, and it was blasted with a sledgehammer and steel drill, often only half a meter a day. It was under such difficult conditions that the Chamarat Da Tunnel was successfully completed in November 1966, which helped chengdu-kunming railway to open to traffic successfully.
"In order to sacrifice more ambitions and dare to teach the sun and the moon to change into a new sky," Chamarat Da Tunnel laid the spirit that China tunnel people are not afraid of hardship, fatigue and being the first. " Yan Jinxiu, former chairman of the International Tunneling Association and chief expert of China Railway Research Institute, said.
Dayaoshan Tunnel, the key tunnel of Beijing-Guangzhou Railway Hengguang Double Track, with a total length of 14.295 kilometers, is the first super-long double-track electrified railway tunnel in China.
"Dayaoshan Tunnel has to cross dozens of large and small faults. The rock stratum is broken, the stability is extremely poor, and the water permeability is extremely strong. The disturbance caused by tunnel construction to the mountain is very easy to cause collapse and mud gushing." The relevant person in charge of the China Railway Tunnel Bureau recalled that if you want to build the Dayaoshan Tunnel, the old method will not work and you must ponder and innovate.
To this end, China Railway Tunnel Bureau actively carried out technological innovation, introduced advanced technology and equipment, and adopted the brand-new construction technology "New Austrian Tunneling Method" to build Dayaoshan Tunnel, creating 11 records. In 1992, Dayaoshan Tunnel won the national special prize for scientific and technological progress, leading China’s tunnel construction to achieve a breakthrough in the whole system.
Since then, China tunnel technology has grown rapidly.
Qinling Tunnel, a controlled project of Xikang Railway, is the first railway tunnel constructed by full-face tunneling machine (TBM) in China, which indicates that tunnel construction in China has entered the stage of shield /TBM factory construction.
Xinguanjiao Tunnel, the control project of the second line of Xi (Ning) Ge (Ermu) of Qinghai-Tibet Railway, is the first time in the history of tunnel construction to build a tunnel with a length of more than 30 kilometers at an altitude of more than 3000 meters and under the complex geological environment of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
The immersed tube tunnel of Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge is the longest highway immersed tube tunnel and the only deep-buried immersed tube tunnel in the world, and it is also the first immersed tube tunnel in the open sea in China. The submarine part of the tunnel is about 5664 meters, which consists of 33 giant immersed tubes and a final joint of a closure section. The maximum installation depth is over 40 meters, and it is called Mount Everest in traffic engineering.
The deep middle passage subsea tunnel is about 6.8 kilometers long, of which the immersed tube tunnel is about 5 kilometers long, which is the longest and widest immersed tube tunnel with steel shell and concrete in the world.
"In 1990, when China held the World Tunnel Conference for the first time, it received help from all countries in the world." Yan Jinxiu proudly said that 34 years later, after a lot of engineering practice, we have accumulated a number of innovative achievements and experiences, which can be shared with our peers in the world.
The scale of tunnel construction has increased rapidly.
Form the world’s largest high-speed railway network and expressway network.
From 1990 to now, in the past 34 years, the scale of tunnel construction in China has increased by 24 times, and the construction mileage has exceeded half of the world total.
Today, more than 50,000 kilometers of railway tunnels and highway tunnels have been built in China, opening up the "throat artery" and forming the world’s largest high-speed railway network and expressway network.
Data show that by the end of 2023, there were 18,573 railway tunnels in operation, with a total length of 23,508 kilometers. Among them, there are 4,561 high-speed railway tunnels with a total length of 7,735 kilometers. By the end of 2022, there were 24,850 highway tunnels in operation, with a total length of 26,784,300 linear meters.
The road network is extended and the train is speeding. In the first quarter of this year, the national railways sent 1.014 billion passengers, with an average of 11.147 million passengers per day, a year-on-year increase of 28.5%. During the "May 1" holiday, there were 1.358 billion people moving across regions in the whole society, showing the surging momentum of China’s economy.
In today’s China, 8,543 kilometers of subway have been built, which has significantly improved the operation efficiency of the city and greatly facilitated people’s travel.
Take Shenzhen as an example, the land area is less than 2,000 square kilometers, and the actual management service population exceeds 21 million. By continuously expanding the development space underground, people’s lives are facilitated.
By the end of 2023, the operating mileage of Shenzhen urban rail transit network (including trams) has increased to 567.1 km, and the number of stations has increased to 393 (including interchange stations, excluding Fulin stations). The density of urban rail transit network (calculated by administrative area) has reached 0.28 km/km2. In 2023, the rail transit (including trams) network in Shenzhen transported about 2.711 billion passengers, and the passenger traffic increased by over 56% year-on-year.
Today, China has built 5,100 kilometers of underground utility tunnel, which has strongly promoted the intensive development of the city and enhanced its resilience.
Xiong’an new area is the first city in China to adopt all-underground utility tunnel. In Rongdong District, the first centralized built-up area in the new district, there are no manhole covers and wires on the street, and all pipelines such as electricity, gas, water supply and signals enter the underground utility tunnel.
Relying on the new generation of information technologies such as big data and Internet of Things, the pipe gallery builds a wireless Internet of Things sensing network, builds a smart operation and maintenance platform, conducts online and offline inspections, and pursues safe, intelligent, accurate and efficient operation. Not only xiong’an new area, but also Beijing, Chongqing, Zhuzhou and other cities have built underground utility tunnel, effectively saving land space and releasing development space.
"China has become the country with the largest number of tunnels, the largest construction scale and the fastest development speed in the world today." Ni Hong, Minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, said that the construction of tunnels and underground projects has made the best use of land and the smooth flow of goods, promoted rapid economic and social development, effectively improved people’s livelihood and played an important role in Chinese modernization.
March towards full automation and intelligence
China tunnel construction has entered the stage of complete independent innovation.
"Now, we can proudly say that China’s tunnel construction concept and construction method have reached the world leading level." Yan Jinxiu said, especially the tunnel construction equipment represented by the large shield is all localized, and the extreme technical challenge represented by crossing the river and crossing the ocean and deep-buried tunnels on the plateau, the tunnel construction in China has entered the stage of completely independent innovation, marching towards a higher level of full automation and intelligence.
On the morning of April 29th, with the slow rotation of the cutter head of the "Pilotage" shield machine, it marked that Chongtai Yangtze River Tunnel entered the stage of shield construction in an all-round way, and started the journey of single-headed tunneling across the Yangtze River with super-large diameter shield.
It is reported that the "Pilotage" shield machine has to work 89 meters underwater in the Yangtze River, heading 11.3255 kilometers with its own head, connecting Chongming in Shanghai and Taicang in Jiangsu, and realizing the high-speed rail crossing the river without slowing down for the first time.
Not only Chongtai Yangtze River Tunnel, but also many large-section tunnels under construction in China, such as Suzhou East Tunnel, a new Nantong-Ningbo high-speed railway, which is known as "the first urban high-speed railway tunnel in China"; Jintang subsea tunnel of Ningbo-Zhoushan Railway is the longest subsea high-speed rail tunnel in the world.
It is one of the characteristics of China tunnel construction to challenge the tunnel engineering under more complicated geology. Gaoligongshan Tunnel is one of them.
As a control project for the entire line of the Da-Rui Railway, Gaoligongshan Tunnel is the first extra-long railway tunnel in the world to cross the Hengduan Mountains. The maximum buried depth of the tunnel is 1,155 meters, and there are as many as 18 kinds of strata that the whole tunnel passes through, including 19 fault zones, which can be called the "geological museum" in the history of railway construction, covering almost all the unfavorable geology and major risks of tunnel construction.
As of May 5, the main tunnel of Gaoligongshan Tunnel has completed 17.8 kilometers, leaving 16.7 kilometers; The parallel pilot tunnel completed 18.1 kilometers, leaving 16.4 kilometers.
The China Railway Tunnel Bureau is responsible for the construction of this tunnel. "The China Railway Tunnel Bureau participated in the construction of seven of the eight projects shortlisted in Chinese mainland, and the Gaoligongshan Tunnel is our new milestone." The relevant person in charge of the China Railway Tunnel Bureau said.
A few days ago, more than 30 international tunnel experts attending the World Tunnel Conference specially rushed to the shield tunnel section of Shenzhen Qianhuang Section of Guangzhou-Dongguan-Shenzhen Intercity Railway for a visit. "In just 3.5 kilometers, this tunnel has to pass through 28 major risk points such as high-speed rail and subway lines, and 128 pipelines. It is the shield tunnel project with the highest comprehensive risk and the most difficult construction among similar projects at home and abroad." Liu Ziming, project leader of China Railway 22 nd Bureau Group, said.
"At present, global tunnels and underground projects are still in a period of rapid development, with broad development space." Chen Yun, Party Secretary and Chairman of China Railway Engineering Group Co., Ltd. said that in the future, China tunnel workers will not only build ultra-deep, ultra-long and ultra-complex tunnel projects and underground spaces with larger sections and deeper burial depth, but also devote themselves to practicing the concept of green and low-carbon development, actively develop intelligent construction and intelligent operation and maintenance, and build a world-class tunnel project.
Layout design: Wang Zheping, Shen Yiling
People’s Daily (May 8, 2024, 07 edition)